There was a 14 per cent rise in the number of the Corporation's staff at the
level just below senior management over a three-year period

The number of the BBC's middle-managers has increased despite its new director-general pledging to save money by cutting senior executive posts, official figures suggest.

There was a 14 per cent rise in staff employed by the Corporation at the level immediately below the top management, from 638 to 729, in the three years to March, The Times reported, citing a Freedom of Information disclosure.

Average salaries for these “band 11” employees rose by 6 per cent over this period to reach £77,308, taking the BBC’s total pay bill for them to £65.5 million.

Lord Hall, who took over as director-general in April, has acknowledged criticism of executive pay-offs and said that he understands the resentment felt by more junior staff towards the broadcaster’s highly-paid “officer class”.

Lord Patten, chairman of the BBC Trust, the Corporation’s governing body, said in September that he wanted to reduce the proportion of senior managers from 2.5 per cent to 1 per cent by 2015.

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The number of senior executives at the BBC was reduced from 614 in 2010 to 445 in March last year, and further positions will be axed in the coming year.

Band 11 staff are generally employed as specialists and include some journalists, although not full-time television and radio presenters.

A BBC spokesman said: "You can't judge the total reduction of BBC staff through the prism of a single, prominently specialist grade at the BBC when the reality is that between March 2010 and March 2013, BBC headcount was reduced by more than 1,400 and the pay bill by close to £58 million."